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Choices: A Review of the Film Vera Drake
by Alice Scott
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Alice Scott, M.A., is a research intern at The Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity |
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On a recent thirteen-hour flight, I had the option to watch
several academy award-winning films. After perusing the airline magazine
reviews, and having heard that Vera Drake’s leading lady, Imelda Staunton,
had been being nominated for best actress, I assumed it definitely would be
a worthy choice.
The film is set in London, England, during the 1950’s, and focuses on a
working class family whose matriarchal figure, Vera Drake, is a gracious,
altruistic woman who spends most of her time, energy, and resources to help
others. Throughout the movie, her munificence earns her the adoration of
many who, having been aided by her, conclude that Vera Drake has a “heart of
gold.” However, her immaculate reputation becomes soiled when her secret is
revealed. Unbeknownst to her family, she has been performing abortions for
over twenty years, internally justifying her efforts as “helping young girls
out.” This stunning revelation is unveiled when authorities identify an
abortion that Vera performed to be the cause of young woman’s near-death
experience. This event, and others that follow, bring to Vera’s awareness
that what she believed was morally right has had terrible consequences.
The raw and unsettling realities of abortion echo throughout this film,
affecting both Vera Drake and the young women she assists. The viewer is
left with an immediate and overwhelming empathy for Vera and for the young
women in the film. These women represent women everywhere who in their
anonymity are hurting. They hurt because they have been through an
unspeakable pain, and they hurt because their hearts have become so raw that
they can hardly bear the touch of memory.
While women have the legal right to choose to have an abortion, that choice
is still immoral. Vera Drake illustrates how the choice of abortion holds
far-reaching implications both for the person who performs abortion and for
the one who undergoes abortion. It also explicitly discourages arguments in
support of abortion by revealing its horrid truths. Vera disguised her
motives in a moral framework that proved to be incorrect. The young women
made a secret choice and ended up bearing the responsibility of an
indescribable burden, which forever impacted them emotionally, physically,
and psychologically. Worse, yet, the aborted children are amongst “the least
of these,” and their rights are left inaudible. How often do we in our
fallen humanity make choices, and only later realize their grave
ramifications?
Today our society chooses to mask the unsightliness of abortion behind
sanitary conditions, qualified doctors, and legal sanctions. However, the
consequences of choosing abortion are factual and not so concealed in the
reactions of those who exercised their choice. More importantly still, the
harsh consequences of abortion call for a need for people everywhere to
choose to shower the thousands of women who have survived this experience
with love, compassion, and understanding. Let us also exercise those same
attributes in all of the choices we make. CBHD
Vera Drake is rated R for depiction of strong thematic material.
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Copyright 2005 by The Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity The contents of this article do not necessarily reflect the opinions of CBHD, its staff, board or supporters. Permission to reprint granted as long as The Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity and the web address for this article is referenced. |
